The Descent of Man

ounds the inequality is greater than with any
other animal, for out of 6878 births during
twelve years, the male births were to the female
as 110.1 to 100. It is, however, in some degree
doubtful whether it is safe to infer that the proportion
would be the same under natural conditions
as under domestication; for slight and
unknown differences in the conditions affect
the proportion of the sexes. Thus with mankind,
the male births in England are as 104.5, in
Russia as 108.9, and with the Jews of Livonia as
120, to 100 female births. But I shall recur to this
curious point of the excess of male births in the
supplement to this chapter. At the Cape of
Good Hope, however, male children of European
extraction have been born during several
years in the proportion of between 90 and 99 to
100 female children.
For our present purpose we are concerned with
the proportions of the sexes, not only at birth,
but also at maturity, and this adds another ele-